1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a recording medium such as a digital signal recording disc, a digital video disc, a digital versatile disc, or an IC memory. Also, this invention relates to a signal encoding apparatus. Furthermore, this invention relates to a signal decoding apparatus. In addition, this invention relates to a method of signal transmission.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical discs for storing information include digital video discs and digital versatile discs (DVD's). A standard DVD stores a combination of an audio signal and a video signal. The audio-signal recording capacity of the standard DVD is significantly smaller than the video-signal recording capacity thereof. It is difficult to manage time-related information of the audio signal recorded on the standard DVD. It is difficult to read out information of the titles of tunes represented by the audio signal recorded on the standard DVD.
In the standard DVD, each video contents block unit has a sequence of packs including a navigation control pack, video packs, and audio packs. During playback, the reproduction of information from video packs and audio packs is controlled in response to information in a navigation control pack. Accordingly, the standard DVD is not suited for a recording medium mainly storing an audio signal.
Generally, it is important to maintain a continuity of the contents of an audio signal during playback. In the standard DVD, a unit of time management corresponds to one video frame. Therefore, if an audio signal is recorded on the standard DVD, it is difficult to manage the real time concerning the contents of the audio signal. This is disadvantageous to the maintenance of a continuity of the audio contents.